SAVINGS PLAN
John Rippe, of Silver Spring, Md., works in the Office of Protected Resources at the National Marine Fisheries Service. Jeff Chen, of Seattle, is a writer and prolific crossword collaborator. John specifically focuses on the 112-/114-Across in his work, and this puzzle is a tribute to its impact.
ACROSS
1 First name in 1990s alternative rock
7 Hall of Fame QB John
12 Showing embarrassment
18 Enormous
20 Target competitor
21 Results of an iron deficiency?
22 Buck, in slang
23 A.P. Stylebook entry that lost its hyphen in 2011
24 Like Constantinople from 1453 to 1922
25 Under the counter, say
27 One on the links?
28 Carpenter’s curve cutter
29 Hagen who wrote ‘‘Respect for Acting’’
30 Lydic of ‘‘The Daily Show’’
31 Group of connected PCS
32 Nashville attraction, with ‘‘the’’
33 Dust-up
35 Something you might break into
37 Fedex alternative
38 John Denver’s ‘‘Thank God ____ Country Boy’’
39 ‘‘Succession’’ family name
40 App used to track fertility
41 Joins a pot
43 Response to ‘‘Are we there yet?’’
46 With sickly pallor
47 Enjoys a homecooked meal
49 Psychoanalyst Alfred
50 Submitted with Turbotax
52 When ‘‘golden goals’’ are scored, for short
53 Bel ____ cheese
54 Covering for a pomegranate seed
55 Capone adversary, informally
58 Substance originally made with animal fat and wood ash
60 Without much thought
62 Wraps (up)
66 Dirty water inside a ship
68 Home to Millennium Park
72 Swamp creature, informally
73 Brew
74 A bull market it is not!
76 ‘‘Bond. James Bond,’’ e.g.
77 First-and-second bet
79 Existential threat in 2021’s ‘‘Don’t Look Up’’
80 Spoke at length
82 Martini & ____ (beverage brand)
84 Mythical bird
85 Stop on a major tour
86 Gas-station convenience
89 Mozart’s ‘‘Così Fan ____’’
91 Conked out
92 Biden’s signature 2022 legislation addressing rising prices, for short
95 Once-popular rug style
97 Outstanding
101 With ____ to (acknowledging)
102 Bowed
104 Disappear . . . like the circled creatures might do, if not for the 112-/114-Across
106 Dishes
107 Tiny ‘‘canvas’’ on which to paint
109 Shows signs of disuse
110 Mission honored by the ‘‘Fallen Astronaut’’ lunar memorial
112 With 114-Across, conservation law that celebrated its 50th anniversary in December 2023
114 See 112-Across
116 Before now
117 Not fine
118 New ____
119 Sushi garnish
120 Web portal with a butterfly logo
121 Senator Joni of Iowa 122 Screens, say
123 Some U.K. Lords
DOWN
1 Social media symbols
2 BEFORE: Coupon stipulation
3 Greek heroine tempted by golden apples
4 Salt, symbolically
5 Signed
6 Like Troy in the ‘‘Iliad’’
7 Pull (out), as a win
8 City in San Bernardino County
9 BEFORE: Game with annoying popups?
10 Turns off
11 High-fashion inits.
12 Cardiac conduit
13 Smith who wrote ‘‘A Tree Grows in Brooklyn’’
14 Country whose national animal is the elephant
15 Member of an elite fighting force
16 BEFORE: Theme park chain
17 QVC alternative
19 BEFORE: Rear-end, e.g.
21 BEFORE: Having physical form
26 Bouncy melody
28 Meeting places
29 Basic cable channel 34 Route
36 BEFORE: Begin operating effectively
40 BEFORE: December temp worker
42 I.R.S. ID
44 Like some ancient Greek poetry
45 Cargo
46 Game console that debuted in 2006
48 Mobile platform
51 Loose item at the bottom of a fast-food bag
55 Basic cable channel
56 AFTER: Tiny amount 57 Soccer star ____ Morgan
59 Scoff in Offenbach
61 Scat syllable
63 Suffix with Paul or marion
64 AFTER: Slangy ‘‘Amen’’
65 Broadway letters of success
67 Theme park known for its international food
69 ‘‘Are you ____ out?’’
70 AFTER: Military pattern
71 Two shakes
72 Brobdingnagian
74 AFTER: Like some statues
75 AFTER: Target of a facial cleanser
78 Houston sch.
81 Back, in a way
83 Langston Hughes poem about racial inequality
85 Baldwin who was the first to play Jack Ryan
86 All together
87 Hordes
88 Philip II of ____, father of Alexander the Great
90 Pinnacle achievement, metaphorically
91 Solar phenomenon
92 How one might bolt upright
93 ‘‘The Future of Law Enforcement,’’ according to a 1987 movie
94 Pop-ups can lead to them
96 AFTER: Actress Rowlands
98 Ooze
99 Some linemen: Abbr.
100 Scatterbrained
101 AFTER: Shakespearean title starter
103 Get down, so to speak
104 Extract
105 Sails in a zigzag way
106 Cape Colony settlers 108 Assistant of classic film
111 Painter Mondrian
113 Monopoly set, for short
115 Before, to Shakespeare